Tesco is at the Slough, southern, end of the Broadway, Farnham Common's de
facto mini High Street. Farnham Common is circa 4 miles north of Slough on the
A355 road to Beaconsfield and the M40 motorway, junction 2.

In a carefully rehearsed robbery, the first masked man stood by the main door,
keeping it open for their escape. Meanwhile the second, knife waving, masked man
jumped over the counter, threaten frighten staff with a large carving knife and
demand they open the tills. The third masked man ordered astonished customers
away from the check-outs and then helped empty the cash drawers into the robber's
bag.

In a fatal error, the robbers also seized bottles of alcohol and packets of
cigarettes before running away, southwards towards Victoria Road.

It is thought a fourth person, a get-away driver, was waiting in the dark in
Kingsway and headed towards the unlit roads of Burnham Beeches because the main
roads would be full of police vehicles.

One of the robbers was white (IC1) and wearing dark tracksuit bottoms and a
dark hooded top with red on the chest area.

Detective Sergeant Tracey Benham based at Aylesbury, about 22 miles away from
Farnham Common, said:

This robbery took place while customers were in the store and we are very
keen to speak to them and anyone else who may have information about this
incident.

This was a very frightening experience for both them and the two members of
staff who were in the store. Fortunately, no-one was injured.

I'd like to reassure everyone that we are investigating this fully and
would ask anyone who saw anything suspicious to contact us via the Thames Valley
Police Enquiry Centre on 101 or anonymously on 0800-555 111 with no personal
details taken and your call is not recorded.

When the Slough Times visited the shop this evening, the Tesco sign
was switched off. It gave an appearance of a shop trying to hid away in the dark
and not be noticed. It did not help that Buckinghamshire County Council had failed
to repair the non-working street lights at the Broadway's southern end. No doubt
the robbers were glad they could quickly disappear into the gloom and darkness.

Tesco comment Tuesday 16 February

A Tesco press office spokesman told the Slough Times:

We're assisting the police with their inquiry and are sorry for any inconvenience caused to customers while the store was closed.

The robbery took place on Sunday evening. The store reopened at 12pm yesterday,
Monday 15th.

We're aware the logo lights aren't working at the moment and will be fixing
them shortly.

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